AP2 Autosteer: What's your feedback?

[verygreen]

I was trying autosteer on local roads yesterday while trying new navigation stuff and it's still pretty dangerous (= keep hands on wheel all the time, no rest or distractions). Dove for a median at an intersection out of a sudden. On a windy road it got spooked by oncoming traffic appearing from behind a hill and panic-braked then disengaged in a second.

On highway seems to be reasonably good.

 

[chillaban]

I was trying autosteer on local roads yesterday while trying new navigation stuff and it's still pretty dangerous (= keep hands on wheel all the time, no rest or distractions). Dove for a median at an intersection out of a sudden. On a windy road it got spooked by oncoming traffic appearing from behind a hill and panic-braked then disengaged in a second.

On highway seems to be reasonably good.

I suspect they will need a more high-level path planner heuristic for city driving. On a well-formed highway, sure, you can boil driving down to "just center yourself within your lane lines" and that's correct 99% of the time. But cities, no way…. Weird bike / turning lanes and discontinuous lane lines make it too difficult to define the road in terms of lanes. It's gotta be more like "don't drive off the road / onto a curb / into another car".

I completely agree though, on highways the latest update drives pretty well, but in cities, AP being allowed to make quicker steering inputs in 17.28 also seems to mean it amplifies its already erratic nature. Hopefully that's one of the next things they're working on.

 

[Sandiegodoug]

We are new owners and don't really use autosteer much, easier just to drive it myself
I do like the cruise control that keeps distance from car in front of me, but honestly, it seems to constantly be making small changes , almost makes me a little car sick. Salesman said feature will improve.

 

[oktane]

We are new owners and don't really use autosteer much, easier just to drive it myself
I do like the cruise control that keeps distance from car in front of me, but honestly, it seems to constantly be making small changes , almost makes me a little car sick. Salesman said feature will improve.

Salesman also said I'd have "enhanced" autopilot beyond AP1 I test drove by end of December 2016 at latest.

 

[pakman00]

Just recently did a 500 mile trip in a loaner with AP2. Autopilot definitely made the trip more relaxing although I did have a few niggles about it. Would be nice if it would give a little more room when passing cars and especially big trucks. The auto lane change is too sudden - like a sudden initial jerk that get's you halfway into the new lane then slowly moves over completely. As we were driving in the middle of the night, passengers absolutely hated this... A few times, it braked despite no obstacles (not sure if it was the big rig truck in the other lane or the road going up and down while going around a curve). For most parts the autosteer was smooth, but there were a few places where it would ever so slightly keep swerving back and forth (within lanes) like a drunk... Lane departure seem to kick in too early but didn't mind. I guess any blind spot warning is non existent in AP2?

 

[Brnz]

Just recently did a 500 mile trip in a loaner with AP2.

I did something similar recently and had a similar experience. Some specific insights or additions or updates, since I think my trip was on a slightly more recent firmware than yours.

Would be nice if it would give a little more room when passing cars and especially big trucks.

I think this is slightly better but not perfected yet. It does seem to occasionally prefer to be just left-of-center in the leftmost lane but I'm not sure if deliberate or coincidental.

The auto lane change is too sudden - like a sudden initial jerk that get's you halfway into the new lane then slowly moves over completely.

This has been resolved since your test drive, I think. It's back to being pretty smooth and fairly cautious.

A few times, it braked despite no obstacles (not sure if it was the big rig truck in the other lane or the road going up and down while going around a curve).

This happened to me, occasionally due to an overpass, mostly due to a fairly sharp turn interstate highway turn/bank combined with an incline or a decline slope. Just generally, AP seems to suck at turning when on a slope at high speed.

For most parts the autosteer was smooth, but there were a few places where it would ever so slightly keep swerving back and forth (within lanes) like a drunk...

This only happened to me when the paint lines were oddly spaced or one was missing, due to construction or the existence of a gap in the right line due to an exit departing the highway.

I guess any blind spot warning is non existent in AP2?

I think you can enable it and you get haptic feedback and beeping on the seat. I think it's enabled by default but who knows if it's enabled on a test profile such as you might have had... I wouldn't trust it with my life though.

 

[Lou gagna]

Just used Autosteer on a local road where the previous major update was going in panic (canceling auto steer with big red sign and loud sound).
This time auto steer kept going, did not ask me to take control.

Was it good? Yes. Was it great? No.

Just after the core of the curve (this specific location is an intersection in town with no more lines in a left curve), the car braked hard before restarting. No danger since no one was following me at close distance, but it might have led to some scares, since there was no reason to stop there.

 

[DiamondHands]

My thoughts with AP on local roads under decent driving conditions, in case anyone's interested.

 

[ridersinc]

My experience with AP2 today on the 405...

 

[oktane]

My experience with AP2 today on the 405...

Thanks so much for posting this candid video. I think you summed up my feelings perfectly.

 

[rap37]

I got my 90D model X in January this year with enhanced autopilot. During the first 6 months I used AP2 for some trips around Toronto and found it to be quite unpredictable. I works fine on well marked divided highways with very gradual curves. It also works fine in stop and go traffic, both city and highway. I recently returned from a 4500km trip from Toronto to Nova Scotia and back and used this trip to try AP2 in different situations. Generally found it unsatisfactory. Specific comments:
- It looks to me that AP2 is programmed to be in the centre of the lane. This makes sense, but seems to cause a problem when two lanes merge into one or one lane splits into two lanes. At the point of the merger, there is a very wide lane and AP2 tends to swerve back and forth trying to find the centre and usually ends up cancelling.
- If I am not positioned in the middle of a lan when I activate AP2, it usually wanders back and forth trying to find the centre. Half the time it cancels and I have to move to the centre of the lane and restart.
- It handles gradual curves ok, but in tighter curves at higher speed (120km/hr) it tends to wander to the outside of the lane. If there are trucks in the adjacent lane, it creates some scary circumstances. AP2 seems to tolerate closer approaches than are comfortable for me.
- Auto lane change was very exciting. As others have mentioned, AP2 changes lanes very abruptly, but I've found that half the time the move to the other lane is so abrupt that autosteer cannot then smoothly find the centre of the new lane and just cancels out. I thought that perhaps it would improve with additional learning opportunities, but if anything it only got worse with time. I think that this feature is potentially dangerous and not ready for regular use unless you are looking for extra excitement in your commute.

Traffic aware cruise control worked great and I used that doing most of our trip. I note that when I entered a region with a lower speed limit, the car slowed to that speed automatically, buy when it returned to the higher speed limit, the speed increased but not to the new higher speed limit. For example, when I went from a 80km/hr speed limit to a 50 km limit, the car slowed to the correct speed, but when we got through the 50Km zone and re-entered an 80 km limit the car increased to about 60 km/hr, not 80 km/hr. it would be nice if cruise control could also automatically adjust to the higher speed limit.

Overall, however, the car is a joy to drive and very comfortable for long days at the wheel. If AP2 improves, it will be perfect.

 

[alcibiades]

My experience with AP2 today on the 405...

Thanks for the video. It meshes well with the photos and videos that others are posting. (I can't wait for the aggressive and passive-aggressive attacks at you. You'll either get "It's awesome. You're an idiot" or "gosh, they are such good people and it is golly gee super duper. You newbies are just ignorant complainers. They are trying their gosh darn hardest.")

I'm beginning to wonder if Tesla Vision will ever work as advertised (let alone when it was advertised). They can add all the cameras they want, but it seems the talent just isn't there.

 

[ridersinc]

Overall, however, the car is a joy to drive and very comfortable for long days at the wheel. If AP2 improves, it will be perfect.

I couldn't agree with you more! I love my X! I also have a 3 reserved and am itching to pull trigger on an S P100D. I'm confident that AP2 will improve soon.

 

[ridersinc]

Thanks for the video. It meshes well with the photos and videos that others are posting. (I can't wait for the aggressive and passive-aggressive attacks at you. You'll either get "It's awesome. You're an idiot" or "gosh, they are such good people and it is golly gee super duper. You newbies are just ignorant complainers. They are trying their gosh darn hardest.")

I'm beginning to wonder if Tesla Vision will ever work as advertised (let alone when it was advertised). They can add all the cameras they want, but it seems the talent just isn't there.

Absolutely. I move my X and really looking forward to when AP2 gets back to being a little smoother (at least based on my subjective experience with the previous software versions on my X). Hopefully soon.

 

[alcibiades]

Absolutely. I move my X and really looking forward to when AP2 gets back to being a little smoother (at least based on my subjective experience with the previous software versions on my X). Hopefully soon.

It's a bummer! I too love my car and can't imagine driving anything else (I don't care about minor cosmetic imperfections), but just wish I would have been told (and would now still be being told) the truth about EAP and HW2. Honestly, I finally bought the car because of the HW2 announcements. I had been waiting, but I believed what they said at the time.

 

[ridersinc]

I spent another solid 1.5 hours on the 405 today in the late afternoon heading from Venice to Newport. A great opportunity to use AP2 as traffic was in clusters. Per my subjective observation, AP2 is very good on the move >30mph....<30mph it starts hugging one side (left or right) of the lane. Also coming down from a higher speed to less than 30 or to a stop as I approached a traffic cluster also does not feel all that smooth. Only time will tell.

 

[FlyF4]

Dangerous and unusable is my feedback. Even when it "works" on a well marked and straight road, the steering is highly skittish and cannot stay centered in lane. Hope future updates make a dramatic improvement but as AP2 was a big selling point for me.

Well it depends on the version of firmware/software loaded. For me in the last two months it has been really good about staying in the center of the lanes on a 5,000 mile trip across the US. With most recent 28 on the MX, the lane changing is smoother and not jerking as it changes lanes. STILL, I agree it is FAR for usable under all road conditions or in city driving.

 

[Airport Dog]

Comments on my new 2017 X75D:

At high speed on the freeway, it seems to do ok, but it does hug the left line as in the video.

The car may or may not stop if a car is stopped ahead of it. Several times I have had to jam on the brakes to avoid it rear ending the car in front.

Auto lane change does not take account of whether there is a car in the adjacent lane at all. It just changes lanes into the adjacent car.

Autopilot cannot handle center islands. It will dive for them.

Autopilot cannot handle curvy roads. It drives off the road into the ditch.

Autopark cannot find any parking spaces, period. I drove around in circles in a parking lot for fifteen minutes at all speeds, and it never recognized anything.

It is basically unusable in anything but high speed highway driving where you would normally use cruise control. Basically AP is quite dangerous to use at all.

 

[Padelford]

First, since my MX is in the shop, I can't quote the software version, but it is the very latest release.

Auto lane change is MUCH smoother after the last (bug fix?) update. Not jerky as before. AP also now does a better job of ignoring exits if the vehicle is in the right lane.

My biggest gripe is how the vehicle on AP tracks thru sweeping left turns on a freeway. AP tends to track way to the right in the turn, and I've had to grab the wheel twice to prevent a collision with an adjacent vehicle on the right. AP doesn't seem to pay any attention to the proximity sensors in this case. Otherwise, the vehicle tends to stay in the middle of the lane. Right sweeping turns haven't been a problem. Could this be caused by a bad calibration somewhere in the vehicle's data files?

AP also takes exit speed limits way too seriously and slows down suddenly. This is especially a problem when transitioning from one freeway to another.

 

[dailo]

I've noticed the same behavior as well. I also notice that in traffic, sometimes the car brakes too abruptly even when there is plenty of space left.